Social media is spreading an unusual theory about late Cuban leader Fidel Castro: Did he invent the Euro step?
This improbable story is popping up on TikTok and X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) in the last few weeks alongside of photos of the Castro playing basketball. But where did it originate? And is it true?
Did one of history's greatest ideologues help to shape one of the world's popular games? The Sporting News has the answers.
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Did Fidel Castro invent the Euro Step?
The Cuban revolutionary, who died in 2016 at age 90, led his country for nearly five decades as prime minister and then president — though his detractors viewed him as a dictator.
While just a footnote to his long political career, Castro also was a basketball fanatic. He told biographer Tad Szulc that the anticipation, speed and dexterity required for basketball came the closets of any sport to matching the skills needed for revolution, the New York Times reported.
Photos of Castro playing the game provide ample evidence — and those photos laid the groundwork for the social media myth of Castro's affinity for the Euro step.
The viral theory started with a satirical blog post titled: "How Fidel Castro Invented the Euro Step: A Brief Oral History." Sports writer Micah Wimmer outlined a fictional history of Castro's love for the famous basketball move.
Wimmer included in his piece a purported entry from Che Guevara's diary in which he derides Castro for the two-step.
“In his frequent basketball matches, Fidel has started using a new move he simply calls ‘The Step.’ It is undeniably effective, yet is its goodness equally undeniable? As revolutionaries we must not merely pay attention to ends, but to means. I worry that this flash and pomp is not befitting of the revolutionary leader. It serves to separate him too much from those caught in the chains of a maudlin life, marred by oppression and economic strife. Yes, it leads to a basket, but at what cost to the communal spirit?”
Castro's purported invention of the maneuver, coupled with Guevara's seeming disillusionment with his fellow Cuban revolutionary, took the internet by storm.
But did Castro invent the Euro step?
Of course not.
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Wimmer appeared befuddled but tickled that the masses have been duped by his concept in a recent social media post — but Castro never invented the Euro Step.
The idea sprung from Wimmer's imagination. Still, it has spread far enough to earn a paragraph on the Euro step entry on Wikipedia debunking the theory. The tale even found its way into David Hollander's nonfiction book, "How Basketball Can Save the World."
For any students looking to sneak the story into history essays on Castro, though, steer clear of this false fun fact.